- RETRO1920
- 7 min read
Pre-Pack includes:
Winter is coming, I create the best when the weather is cold and crisp. Fall/Winter weather is a cheat code. I got a secret tape I wrote back in the winter of 2021 that I'm excited to get out into the world. The inspiration behind the tape was tapping into a different light source. I've known Dax, forever. We used to ride the bus to our football games in high school, and bump Drake's Comeback Season and deep cut records by Lil' Wayne, and mix it up with some RnB and downtempo songs before we stepped on the field. Years, later I would ride in Dax's mustang and we would be playing records by Drake, Rick Ross, and just eclectic songs with those Justice League type beats. Dax used to always tell me, "Bro, you get on these types of beats no one is touching you."
Dax used to tell me, "Bro, you get on these types of beats no one is touching you."
In the midst of working on a tape tentatively titled, "Daydreams x Nightmares," Dax's idea popped into my head, I started writing separate material that was more melodic and anecdotal, beat driven so to speak. In my down time from writing for Daydreams and Nightmares, I started gravitating towards Justice League type beats and sitting in the pocket.
As I talked to AYNT about it, he expressed having a similar writing process where he can almost work on something else to take his mind off his magnum opus and it helped him stay creative, stay writing, and pretty much fine tune his skills for the project he really wanted to perfect.
When working on this tape, the flows and rhythms came naturally. Dax was right, the fly high art sounding beats was a good pairing for my style.
Remind you, while working on Daydreams x Nightmares I was in prime form. I was studying Aesop Rock, KA, and R.A.P. Ferreira f.k.a Milo. Also, Wu-Tang: The American Saga was in the background of my creative space at all times. I was focused on the technical aspect and I was writing, memorizing, and transcribing my work.
(1st Pic, Blue Pad, by AYNT)
One of my bucket list goals on this project was to go toe to toe with Lupe Fiasco's song Mural, in a medley of bars for a song I wanted to title Stendhal Syndrome. For Daydreams and Nightmares I recorded a few drafts in the beginning of 2022.
After smooth sailing for quite some time, life happened. I started having some audio issues and a little writer's block after writing in a very effortless manner the winter prior.
During labor day of this year, Holla and AYNT came up to Central Florida and we had a chance to catch up and get in the creative spirit. This sparked my creative passion.
Around this time I was still having audio issues that prevented me from recording for over three months. It was a faint crackle that was messing up my takes when I was recording. Exhibit A - Change Up (Draft) produced by T. Coop
Change Up (Draft) (Prod. by T. Coop)
Needless to say, I fixed the issue. The much appreciated creative spark by seeing my day ones, probably ignited my will to fix my audio issue. After weeks of changing out XLR cables and starting new sessions with no additional plug-ins, etc.. the issue started to dwindle.
The issue most likely came from adding a volume decibel on the master bus high enough to make the mastering of the song sound leveled at 80%. The added plug-in being used while recording had me peaking and causing distortion. Scarlett also replied back to my e mail and told me to update the software; I never knew that was even a thing for interfaces. When I removed the plug-in, prior to recording, and updated the software the distortion stopped. The change of XLR cables helped create a new work flow, so if any other issues arise I knew it wasn't from my cables.
A day or so after our excursion in Central Florida, I recorded about ten songs for I Promise, I'm Good. The songs were all recorded in one sitting, about ninety minutes of work. Two songs have been added below, but have not been added to the Pre-Pack. The tape is tentatively drafted as a sixteen track project. Soon as I was cognizant of the crackle going away I was trying to record everything I could before I had another random hick up in my audio workflow.
- Wassup (Prod. by SOB Production)
- Ocean Views (Prod. by AWSMJ)
Wassup (prod. by SOB Production)
Ocean Views (Prod. by AWSMJ)
What I will forever remember about these recordings is how much fun it was to be in the booth. I was freestyling a lot of my second verses and even leaving gaps in some of my verses to leave room for improvisation; if I knew the end rhyme within a two or four bar set up and the theme I could wing it until I got there. This took me back to a time when I was in Just-This Crew and I was in my bag.
These songs are in draft form though because of this writing style. I need to go back and polish and if some of the freestyled lines worked, I transcribed them to fill any gaps in my verses. My style has been a lot like spraying a wall with graffiti, I have to see it on the wall before I can make sense of the painting or story I am trying to convey.
My style has been a lot like spraying a wall with graffiti, I have to see it on the wall before I can make sense of the painting or story I am trying to convey.
Some bars are I need to perfect by rerecording. Some anecdotes I had to fact check later, because when I was freestyling I jacked them up. "Hey Dax I freestyled back when you had the charger and Bert had the challenger. You had the mustang, right? I know, I gotta change that line." Another example, for On Road, Whenever You Need Me I said, "One you can confine with," instead of, "Confide in." The curse of freestyling.
On this tape, I wanted to tell more than just my present story. I revisited the past and distant future at times, like usual, but this time around I also mingled with anecdotes from the POV of my friends. In Floor Seat Flows II some of the perspective is from Dax's POV and how he stayed solid in times where a lot of people would've jumped on social media and bragged about how much they did for the city.
My wife heard Wassup today and asked me what the waterbed line was all about. She knows all my anecdotes and felt cheated that my pen knew more than she did. The water bed line intermingled anecdotes from my life and AYNT. "It's an inflation bed," she said in a corrective manner, "right?" "Yeah," I told her, "but try saying studio near inflation be....," she stopped me abruptly. "Yeah, yeah that sounds crazy (laughing)." I took her back to a few times in my life where the bar was rooted in concrete facts and how the same kind of lifestyle and grind I had with AYNT when he first had his studio set up in close reach.
So why is this one called the Pre-Pack? It's a preview pack. This is my version of clearing a room with the sage. Daydreams x Nightmares has moved up the priority list. What I didn't want, was for this tape to drop next year in a season where the weather wasn't as authentic to the time when I wrote it. Also, I didn't want two years to go by from the time I wrote these records and for myself and others to feel so distant from it. This project screams cold weather. Though it's only halfway done, I wanted people that appreciate my art to tap in and get a teaser to what some of my close friends that create are calling my best work.
Also since I'm working on different things at one time, friends ask me to send the drafts as some kind of complete entity, and others get some of the songs on my other tape confused with it being on this tape. I wanted to draw a mental line in the sand, so I can gracefully tap back into this other tape I enjoy as well.
So I thought it would be a great idea to show what I've been working on in real time with this tape, before all my energy goes elsewhere. Put it this way, I hit the pause button but I'm letting you see all the work leading up to it before the full-length release.
Though I Promise, I'm Good has been a more organic, impromptu, at times for better or worse jazz experience.... Daydreams x Nightmares has been very structured. Though, I've had less edits and have trusted my gut with my first writtens and most times than not my first takes.
What am I working on now
Daydreams x Nightmares 😶🌫️ x 😱 2040: An Audio Journey
I Promise I'm Good (Tracklist)
Paso Robles (Prod. by The Noise Emporium)
Floor Seat Flows II (Track Two Theory) (Prod. by The Noise Emporium)
Muse (Prod. by Kimpe)
On Road, Whenever You Need Me (Prod. by Skeyez)
After Hov (Prod. by The Noise Emporium)
Legacy (Prod. by PilotKid)
Six Degrees of Separation
Kyotos On, Still Need Healing
I Promise, I'm Good
Club E11even
Wassup (Prod. by SOB. Production)
Telepathy
Ocean Views (Prod. by AWSMJ)
Deadwood Leather Rose
Ocean Views
No More Poets (Blue Tape Coming Soon Freestyle)
16 Tracks
Release Date: TBD
I promise, I'm good.
12.11.22 - MCMXX
After bernz and wrek,
who saved the city the most? (us)
-After Hov
Track 5
I Promise, I'm Good
P.S. - I have untagged versions, but majority of my demos start with tagged versions of beats that I purchase once I know I'm going to keep the songs on the tape. Always big shout out to AYNT and Shay J for building with me on this journey(s).
*Mixing is incomplete.*
My most vulnerable track on here, God willing, will be Kyotos On, Still Need Healing.
I Promise, I'm Good [Pre-Pack] EXPERIENCE NOW!
